Cardiovascular Health

What does the cardiovascular system entail? The lungs, heart, arteries, and veins. In an average lifetime the heart will beat about 3 billion times and 42 million gallons of blood. Cardiovascular disease is also the leading cause of death in the United States and other developed countries. 

What causes cardiovascular disease? Fatty build-up in the artery wall is the main culprit, causing about 85% of cardiovascular disease. The fatty build-up can also cause strokes, the third leading cause of death. 

The fatty-build up can be reversed with intense lifestyle changes. These changes may or may not be accompanied with the use of medication to lower cholesterol. Risk factors that can attribute to the fatty build-up include the use of tobacco (including smoking), high blood pressure, high cholesterol, physical inactivity (less than 30 accumulative minutes of moderate to intense activity a day. Moderate can be gardening or a brisk walk), obesity (BMI over 30), and diabetes. Physical inactivity and obesity are the leading risk factors, followed by smoking/ tobacco use and high blood pressure, with high cholesterol next and diabetes being the lowest risk factor. 

What would changing these factors look like? Quitting smoking causes a  50-70% decrease in risk. Decreasing cholesterol is a 2-3% decrease in risk for every 1% dropped in total cholesterol. Decreasing high blood pressure is also a 2-3% decrease for each 1 mmHg drop.  Increase in physical activity causes a 45% decrease in risk if maintained. Maintaining ideal body weight was seen to have a 35%-55% decrease in risk vs those who were obese. To summarize,  utilizing a  proper diet and physical activity causes a huge decrease in risk for cardiovascular disease. 

What does a proper diet look like? According to the Swedish Mammography Study (conducted on 24,444 women) published by Archives of Internal Medicine by Akesson et al. (2007), a low risk diet includes low to no alcohol consumption, high intake of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, and legumes. A follow up study done by Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (done on 44,875 men ages forty to seventy-five years ) showed that a similar diet, including high intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and poultry drastically reduced risk for cardiovascular disease when compared to a diet of higher intake of red meat, processed meats, refined grains, sweets and desserts, french fries, and high-fat dairy products. 

So to drastically decrease risk of cardiovascular disease, getting 30 accumulative min of moderate to intense physical activity daily, and a diet mostly consisting of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, while being low in red meat consumption, is the best way.